Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

Isaac Newton is famous for formulating the law of gravity, discovering how a prism separates sunlight into different colors, and inventing the reflecting telescope.

He was the first to explain that light consists of different colored rays and that white light is actually a combination of all these colors.

Interestingly, Newton was born the same year that the famous scientist Galileo died.

Newton’s parents had a small farm in Lincolnshire, a quiet and isolated place with no nearby schools. Despite this, he received a good basic education from the neighboring villages.

At the age of twelve, he went to the town of Grantham to study at the Grammar School.

At first, he showed little interest in his lessons and was often among the weakest students. One day, a schoolmate kicked him in the stomach, which led to a fight in the graveyard. Newton won, but he wanted more than physical victory. Determined to excel, he began studying hard and soon became the best pupil in his class.

Newton preferred building models over playing with other boys. He created a working model of a windmill near his school and even built a water clock, which measured time by the falling of water onto a floating wooden hand. His invention became popular, and neighbors often came to see it in action.

He also made paper kites and lanterns. One night, to tease his superstitious neighbors who feared comets, he tied a lantern to a kite and flew it, frightening everyone.

To measure wind strength, Newton once jumped with the wind and against the wind, comparing the distances to calculate its force.

When Isaac was fourteen, his mother wanted him to work on the farm, so he returned home. On market days, he traveled to Grantham under an old servant’s supervision. The servant often left him under a tree with a book because Isaac was so absorbed in reading. At the farm, he ignored the sheep and corn, preferring to make models or read. When his mother realized his dedication to learning, he returned to Grantham to prepare for college.

At eighteen, Newton entered Cambridge University, where he became one of the top students.

One day, Newton was resting in his garden, enjoying the warmth of the sun. The plague had closed the university, and the streets were quiet. As he dozed beneath an apple tree, a ripe apple fell on his head. Instead of getting angry or laughing, he wondered, “Why does the apple fall downward? Why not upward? The Earth must have some force that pulls objects. Could this force reach the Moon?”

He realized that the same force causing the apple to fall might also govern the Moon’s orbit around Earth. Perhaps it even kept the planets in motion and controlled the universe itself.

This curiosity set Newton on a lifelong quest to understand the laws of nature. His main achievement was the law of gravity, which he extended to the entire universe, explaining how the Moon is held by Earth’s gravity and how planets orbit the Sun.

In solving this great mystery, Newton’s journey of discovery began with a single apple.